User-configurable variables (i.e., variables that can be set by a user at runtime) are often defined in computer programs. When user-configurable variables are defined in a computer program, the computer program is usually written in such a way that each time the computer program is executed, all user-configurable variables are checked to determine whether or not any user-configurable variable needs to be set or configured based on configuration information provided by a user.
Checking all user-configurable variables for each execution of the computer program, however, is inefficient if only a small percentage of the user-configurable variables are set by a user. Additionally, the approach is error-prone because each time a new user-configurable variable is defined in the computer program, the computer program must be modified so that the newly defined user-configurable variable will be checked along with all of the other user-configurable variables when the computer program is executed. If the computer program is not modified accordingly, then the newly defined user-configurable variable will not be checked at runtime and, as a result, may not be configured correctly.